Lowe's Awards Edgar Murray Elementary $4,585 for Outdoor Classroom
Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a $4,585 Toolbox for Education grant to Edgar Murray Elementary in St. Clair for renovation of their outdoor classroom in the courtyard. The Edgar Murray Elementary is one of more than 450 schools or parent organizations to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant for school improvement projects benefiting K-12 public education across the United States during the 2010-2011 school year. The Garden Lab Learning-Made in the Shade grant, written by Jennifer Hawkins and her sixth grade gifted education class, has been described below.
Grant Description
Our mission is to use our Garden Learning Lab as a vehicle to encourage St. Clair children to make good food choices and allow opportunities for their knowledge to GROW! With hands-on experiential learning and long-term observations, our students will gain a love of nature, make good decisions about using natural resources, and make healthy eating a priority. The proposed renovations to our outdoor classroom will provide a safe and comfortable place for students to investigate, experiment, and explore nature.
This mission will be attained with a comfortable and inviting Garden Learning Lab, or inquiry based outdoor classroom. We currently have a nice courtyard nestled in the center of our building, which was built with the vision of providing an outdoor classroom. The location has great potential, but the lack of shade keeps classes from using it for much of the year. This project will provide a pergola, awning, or pavilion to shade an outdoor sitting area for teachers to hold classes. It will also provide umbrellas for our already existing outdoor picnic tables. With addition to shade trees, the area will provide enough shade to offer comfortable and inviting spaces for our students’ nature learning experiences.
With the financial assistance of our local Rotary club, we will purchase supplies to build garden boxes for students to plant fruits, vegetables, and herbs as well as Missouri grasses and plants. We will also create rock walkways so that the students can walk through the Garden Learning Lab without getting muddy.
This project cannot be successful without our community volunteers and businesses. We are currently working with our Board of Education, local Rotary Club, City Inspector, Patton's Nursery, and other community members to plan our Garden Learning Lab. We will schedule community work days in order to build garden boxes, create the pathways, build the pergola or pavilion, and build benches.
We plan to culminate the project by inviting St. Clair family members and community volunteers to a picnic or barbecue in the Garden Leaning Lab this spring.
About Toolbox for Education
“Through our Toolbox for Education grant program, Lowe’s recognizes parent-initiated efforts to enrich the lives of children in our communities,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “By supporting schools like the Edgar Murray Elementary, we are contributing to a cause that’s important to our customers and employees, and we’re also helping to build a stronger foundation for the children who will be tomorrow’s employees, homeowners and community leaders.”
Launched in partnership with PTO Today, a leading organization serving parent-teacher groups, the Toolbox for Education program has provided more than $20 million through more than 5,000 grants since its inception five years ago. Grants of up to $5,000 are available to public schools in the U.S. for a wide range of improvement projects and large schools or school districts may be eligible to receive Toolbox grants up to $100,000 for school improvement initiatives. All K-12 public schools in the United States are eligible. Parent groups may apply by visiting www.toolboxforeducation.com.
Since its inception in 1957, Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has helped communities nationwide through employee volunteerism and financial contributions.
About Lowe’s
Lowe’s is a proud supporter of Habitat for Humanity International, American Red Cross, SkillsUSA/Skills Canada, and The Nature Conservancy, in addition to numerous non-profit organizations and programs that help communities in North America. In 2009, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $30 million to support community and education projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Lowe’s also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe’s Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative. Lowe’s is a FORTUNE® 50 company with fiscal year 2009 sales of $47.2 billion and has more than 1,700 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toolboxforeducation. For more information, visit Lowes.com/community.
Grant Description
Our mission is to use our Garden Learning Lab as a vehicle to encourage St. Clair children to make good food choices and allow opportunities for their knowledge to GROW! With hands-on experiential learning and long-term observations, our students will gain a love of nature, make good decisions about using natural resources, and make healthy eating a priority. The proposed renovations to our outdoor classroom will provide a safe and comfortable place for students to investigate, experiment, and explore nature.
This mission will be attained with a comfortable and inviting Garden Learning Lab, or inquiry based outdoor classroom. We currently have a nice courtyard nestled in the center of our building, which was built with the vision of providing an outdoor classroom. The location has great potential, but the lack of shade keeps classes from using it for much of the year. This project will provide a pergola, awning, or pavilion to shade an outdoor sitting area for teachers to hold classes. It will also provide umbrellas for our already existing outdoor picnic tables. With addition to shade trees, the area will provide enough shade to offer comfortable and inviting spaces for our students’ nature learning experiences.
With the financial assistance of our local Rotary club, we will purchase supplies to build garden boxes for students to plant fruits, vegetables, and herbs as well as Missouri grasses and plants. We will also create rock walkways so that the students can walk through the Garden Learning Lab without getting muddy.
This project cannot be successful without our community volunteers and businesses. We are currently working with our Board of Education, local Rotary Club, City Inspector, Patton's Nursery, and other community members to plan our Garden Learning Lab. We will schedule community work days in order to build garden boxes, create the pathways, build the pergola or pavilion, and build benches.
We plan to culminate the project by inviting St. Clair family members and community volunteers to a picnic or barbecue in the Garden Leaning Lab this spring.
About Toolbox for Education
“Through our Toolbox for Education grant program, Lowe’s recognizes parent-initiated efforts to enrich the lives of children in our communities,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “By supporting schools like the Edgar Murray Elementary, we are contributing to a cause that’s important to our customers and employees, and we’re also helping to build a stronger foundation for the children who will be tomorrow’s employees, homeowners and community leaders.”
Launched in partnership with PTO Today, a leading organization serving parent-teacher groups, the Toolbox for Education program has provided more than $20 million through more than 5,000 grants since its inception five years ago. Grants of up to $5,000 are available to public schools in the U.S. for a wide range of improvement projects and large schools or school districts may be eligible to receive Toolbox grants up to $100,000 for school improvement initiatives. All K-12 public schools in the United States are eligible. Parent groups may apply by visiting www.toolboxforeducation.com.
Since its inception in 1957, Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has helped communities nationwide through employee volunteerism and financial contributions.
About Lowe’s
Lowe’s is a proud supporter of Habitat for Humanity International, American Red Cross, SkillsUSA/Skills Canada, and The Nature Conservancy, in addition to numerous non-profit organizations and programs that help communities in North America. In 2009, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $30 million to support community and education projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Lowe’s also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe’s Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative. Lowe’s is a FORTUNE® 50 company with fiscal year 2009 sales of $47.2 billion and has more than 1,700 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toolboxforeducation. For more information, visit Lowes.com/community.